Automatic heater-operating device for lamp-circuits.



No. 652,634. Patented 'Iune 26, I900.

- H. N. POTTER. AUTOMATIC HEATER OPERATING DEVICE FOR LAIIIP CIRCUITS.

(Application filed Aug. 9, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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HENRY NOEL POTTER, OF GUTTINGEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGEIVESTINGHOUSE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC HEATER-OPERATING DEVICE FOR LAMP ClRCUlTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,634, dated June 26,1900.

Application filed August 9, 1899.

To whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY NOEL POTTER, a citizen of the United StatesofAmerica, and a resident of Gottingen, Germany, have in vented certainnew and useful Improvements in Automatic Heater-Operating Devices forLampCircuits, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of apparatus employed for impartingthe necessary initial temperature to glowers of that class of electriclamps in which the glower is a non-conductor of electricity when coldand becomes conductive when heated to a proper temperature. Heretoforeit has been customary to locate an electric heater in proximity to theglower and to either allow it to remain in a fixed position withreference to the glower after the latter has become couductive or elseto Withdraw it by the action of the electric current traversing anelectromagnet or a solenoid adapted to automatically remove the heater.

remain in proximity, but frequently it is desirable that it shall beremoved; but the de- 1 vices heretofore employed required a continuedconsumption of energy in order to hold the heater away from the glower.

My invention is designed to obviate the necessity of the expenditure ofenergy, or at least any material amount of energy, for the purpose ofretaining the heater in its remote position after the glower has becomeincandescent.

My Invention consists generally in providing apparatus in which theheater is held away from the glower so long as no current is traversingthe lamp. When, however, current is first sent through the lamp, thecurrent traversing the heater operates to move the heater into proximityto the glower and it remains in this position until the currentcommences to flow through the glower itself. Thereupon theheater-circuit is interrupted, and the heater is at. the same timeautomatically moved away from the glower.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a diagram of circuits and anapparatus for carrying out my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 illustratedetails.

In some instances it is entirely practical to allow the heater to 1Serial No. 726,619. (No model.)

Referring to the drawings, G represents a glower composed of rare earthssuitably prepared and formed in the manner employed in the so-calledNernst lamps. These glowers must be raised to a fairly high temperaturebefore they become conductors of electricity under normal pressures. Forthe purpose of raising the glowers to such a tempera ture the heater Ais employed. This may be of any suitable character-such, for instance,as a coil of wire suitably arranged and disposed with reference to theglower, so that when it is in proximity thereto and traversed by anelectric current it will develop sufficient heat to raise the glower toits required temperature. The heater is supported by a movable core I)of a solenoid B. This core is normally drawn away from the glower G bythe spring I) or other suitable device, and at the same time partiallydrawn out of the coil B.

land 2 represent the mains of any suitable circuit, and a conductor 3leads from the main 1 to one terminal of the switch R, from the otherterminal of which a conductor 26 leads to one terminal of the solenoidB, the other terminal of which is connected by theconductor 4 with oneterminal of the heater-wire A, and the remaining terminal of the heateris connected by a conductor 5 with a contact-point c of acircuit-controlling de vice G. The corresponding contact-point c of thisdevice is connected by a conductor 6 with the main 2. When current isturned onto the lamp-as, for instance, by closing the switch Rthecurrent traversing heater A and the solenoid B draws down the core I)and places the heater in proximity to the glower G, and it continues tooccupy this position so long as the glower remains non-conductive.

The circuit connections of the glower are from the conductor 26 byconductor 7 to the glower and from the glower by conductor 8 to abalancing or current-restraining device 1), thence by conductor 9 to thesolenoid c of the circuit-controller O. From the remaining terminal ofthis solenoid a conductor 10 leads to the conductor 6, and thus to themain condoctor 2. The core 0 of the circuit controller G is carried by apivoted lever 0 which carries the contact-point 0.

Normally the core 0 is held partially withdrawn from the solenoid by aspring or equivalent device 0 but when current traverses the glower andthe solenoid c the core a is drawn downward, and thus the heater-circuitis broken at the points 0 c. Thereupon the current through the, coil 13ceases, and the heater A is thus withdrawn automatically from proximityto the glower, and it will remain away from the glower until it isreturned by the passage of current through the solenoid B. In thismanner I am enabled to avoid the waste of energy which takes .place whenthe solenoid is employed in the glower-circuit for positivelywithholding from proximity to the glowers a heater which is normallyheld near them by gravity or some other force, the only waste energybeing that consumed in the solenoid c and the current which isnecessarily consumed in the balancing device or steadyingresistance D,which it is customary to employ in connection with glowers of thischaracter to prevent an undue flow of current therethrough.

In some instances it is desirable to combine the circuit breaking devicefor the heater with the balancing device, and in such cases the solenoid0 may be dispensed with. In another application I have described acircuit-breaking device operatedby a steadyingresistance, and I desireto have it understood that I do not limit myself to the use of anyparticular form of circuit=breaker, for it may be employed in connectionwith a thermostatic or other form of interrupter.

It might happen that a glower provided with a heating device of the kinddescribed in the foregoing specification would become inoperative bybeing broken or for some other cause, in which case, unless specialprovision were made to prevent it, the heating-circuit might remainclosed, and in this way energy might be consumed to no purpose. In orderto provide for a positive rupture of the heating-circuit even though theglower should be thus inoperative, I insert in the wire 4 of the saidheating-circuit a coil 11, of nickel, copper, or iron, or anyother'suitable metal,

closely surrounding but insulated from a bar 12, of zinc or other metal,having considerable expansibility under the influence of heat,

and I connect the said bar to a lever 13, pivoted at 14 and providedwith a contact-point 15, which is normally in contact with termi: nal16, which is connected bya wire 17 to the of bringing the glower G to aconductive temperature.

Should it happen that the said glower is for any reason in aninoperative condition, so that the glower-circuit would be in terruptedand the solenoid a fail to do its work of breaking the heater-circuit,the expansion of the rod or bar 12 will ultimately be sufficient toseparate terminal 15 from the terminal 16 and so break theheater-circuit.

I prefer to let the expansion of the bar 12 operate the pivoted leverfor the purpose of releasing a catch, both in order to provide a suddenwide separation between the terminals and the heater-circuit and also toinsure permanent rupture of the circuit. Different arrangements foraccomplishing this result are illustrated in different figures in thedrawings. In Fig. 2 the lever 13, which is acted upon by the bar 12, isboth pivoted and insulated at the point 14, and the current afterpassing through the coil 11 reaches the said lover by way of the wire 17 and passes through the said lever to contacts 15 and 16 and the spring19. This spring is supported upon the pivot-post 20 and normally has atendency to move to the right far enough to make a wide break betweenthe terminals 15 and 16 when these terminals are released fromengagement with each other. From the spring 19 the current passes bywire 17, as before, to the heater A. When the rod or bar 12 expandsunder the heat of the coil 11 sufficiently to cause the terminal 15 tomove downward and away from the terminal 16, the latter is carried bythe force of the spring 19 to a considerable distance from the terminal15, thus breaking the heater-circuit and making it necessary to restorethe parts by hand before the heatercircuit is again complete. Theposition of the parts after the rod has expanded sufficiently to breakthe heater-circuit is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 3 I show the coil 11 surrounding a compound bar 21, composed oftwo metals having different degrees of expansibility un der theinfluence of heat. In the instance illustrated the expansion of the rodsis supposed to be such as to move the top of the bar 21 to the left.This top, as shown, is provided with a catch 22, which engages with theinner end of a pivoted lever 23. Aspring 24, which may be replaced by aweight, tends to move the inner end of this lever upward when the catch22 is removed from it. The action is the same as already described withrelation to the apparatus shown in Fig. 2- that is to say, when thecatch 22 of the bar 21 is disengaged from the lever 23 the spring 24draws the lever 23 out of contact with the fixed terminal 25, and theheater-circuit is thereby broken.

It is obvious that the range of movement of the expanding rod in thecircuit-breakers (illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3) maybe increased by anywell-known'means, such as 'a combination of levers adapted for thepurpose.

In place of the solenoid B for positively withdrawing the heater fromthe glower after the initial operation of the heater-circuit I mayemploy a thermostatic device which is by the current, and in this casealso I may IIO magnify the range of movement of the said thermostaticdevice by a suitable system of levers. This employment of a thermostaticdevice for operating the heater could be applied to lamps in which theheater is normally in proximity to the glower or glowers, but is removedfrom proximity thereto after having done its work.

I11 some instances it may be desirable to connect the solenoid B inshunt upon the heater-circuit, as indicated in dotted lines 27 and 28 inFig. 1, the conductor 5 being opened at a point between the twoconductors 27 and 28 when this arrangement is used.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a glower of an electriclamp composed of a material which is non-conductive when cold and aconductor when heated, of an electric heater therefor, means fornormally retaining the heater out of proximity to the glower and meansfor placing the heater in proximity to the glower when current istraversing-the heater.

2. The combination of an electric lamp having a glower composed ofmaterial which is a non-conductor when cold and a conductor when heated,a heater for giving an initial temperature to the glower, and means fortemporarily placing the heater in proximity to the glower, operated bythe current traversing the heater.

3. The combination of an electric lamp having a glower composed ofmaterial which is a non-conductor when cold and a conductor when heated,a heater, a retracting device for the said heater, a device in theheatercircuit adapted to overcome the said retracting device and acircuit-breaker for the heating-circuit.

4. In an electric lamp of the class described a glower formed from rareearths or a mixture thereof, a heating device normally remote from thesaid glower, an electro magnetic device included in the heater-circuitand adapt ed to move the heater into proximity to the said glower andmeans operated by the cur rent in the glower-circuit for breaking theheater-circuit.

5. An electric lamp containing one or more glowers, a glower-circuitcontaining a glower formed from rare earths or an intimate mixturethereof, a heater-circuit containing an electrical heating devicenormally held retracted from the said glower by a spring or itsequivalent, an electro magnetic device in the heater-circuit acting inopposition to the said spring, and a circuit breaker in theheater-circuit operated from the glower-circuit.

6. An electric lamp of the class described having its glower and heaterin parallel circuits and provided with an automatic circuit breaker forcutting out the heater when the glower becomes conductive, and athermostatic cut-out for the heater which operates independently of theglower-circuit.

7. An electric lamp of the class described having its glower and heaterin parallel circuits and provided with an automatic breaker 'for theheater-circuit operated by the glowercircuit current and an auxiliarybreaker for the heater-circuit operated independently of theglower-circuit.

8. An electric lamp of the class described having its glower and heaterin parallel circuits and provided with a heater cut-out operated bycurrent in the glower-circuit when theglower becomes conductive, anauxiliary cut-out for the heater-circuit and a thermostatic actuatingmeans therefor that becomes effective after a predetermined interval ofinactivity of the first-named cut-out.

HENRY NOEL POTTER.

Witnesses:

KIRKE LATI-IROP, W. K. ANDERSON.

